May 5, 2005	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1426

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SWABI, May 4: Ensuring quality of products and addressing to consumer to safety standards is the best way of overcoming technical barriers imposed by the World Trade Organization and the developed world, an official of the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) said here on Wednesday.

Giving a presentation on PNAC activities to faculty members of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Management Sciences, the council’s director-general Abdul Rashid said that Pakistan, like other developing nations, would faced threats and challenges due to free movement of goods as a result of the enforcement of WTO rules.

He said that without improving quality, it would be difficult to compete in the emerging cut-throat market. “Access to the developed countries’ market is not an easy task and the primary walls are technical barriers created for the developing countries,” he said.

The government, he said, was committed to creating a quality improvement environment and developing a strong quality infrastructure. Directing focus on product improvement and a number of other steps would be taken for strengthening the export base, he added.

He said the government had already established the National Quality Council and introduced national award scheme.

He reckoned an export-oriented policy, competitive quality of products, policy reforms, privatization, deregulation and liberalization among the vital steps for the overall economic growth.

A sluggish economic growth and low-quality products “are our main headaches”, he said, adding that substandard products posed a grave threat to the health of consumers.

The products affecting health included vegetables, ghee, oil, water, beverages, poultry, cooking stoves, iron press, heaters, sweets, etc. “In sweets, 25 colours are used which are injurious to health,” he said.

We have been lacking technical manpower, innovation/modernization and result-oriented research and development, breakthroughs in the fields of technology and finance, he said. “We have to standardize quality to achieve the objectives of economic growth and prosperity,” he added.

He dilated upon the international accreditation hierarchy system and how this system has been dominated by the developed countries and how they wanted to remain ahead of the developing states.

“We are strengthening our system by arranging training courses in testing, inspections, management of product process, technical regulation, and conformity assessment,” he said.

The GIK Institute’s laboratories and experts could provide a base for quality improvement, he said, adding that it would open new vistas of collaboration between the institute and the PNAC.

The rector of the institute, Dr Abdullah Sadiq, also spoke on the occasion.